Robert H. Treman State Park is an area of wild beauty, with the rugged gorge called Enfield Glen as its scenic highlight. Winding trails follow the gorge past 12 waterfalls, including the 115-foot Lucifer Falls, to where visitors can see a mile-and-a-half down the wooded gorge as it winds its way to the lower park. Campers can choose from tent or RV sites or cabins. Enjoy nine miles of hiking trails, or swim in a stream-fed pool beneath a waterfall. Swimming is allowed in lifeguarded area only.

Fees & Rates

Most New York State Parks charge a vehicle use fee to enter the facility. Fees vary by location and season. A list of entry fees and other park use fees is available below. For fees not listed or to verify information, please contact the park directly.

The Empire Pass -- whether a card for $80 or a vehicle-affixed decal for $65 -- is your key to all-season enjoyment with unlimited day-use entry at most facilities operated by State Parks and the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation including forests, beaches, trails and more. Apply online or contact your favorite park for more information. Learn more about our Admission Programs including the Empire Pass.

The gorges, waterfalls, and pools at Robert H. Treman State Park and in the surrounding Finger Lakes Region were formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 years ago. As the Finger Lakes’ glaciers melted, Enfield Creek began to flow, clearing rocks and debris from a gorge that existed even earlier than the most recent glaciers. Just below Lucifer Falls, you can see where the stream in the upper park changed its course a little bit southwards, eroding the rocks to create a “new” narrow gorge. As the water flows over the 115 foot falls the notice how the gorge widens dramatically. The stream continues to erode both sections of the gorge to reveal the stunning geology of the Park.

You can hike past 12 waterfalls on the Gorge Trail, including 115 foot-high Lucifer Falls.

Explore the Old Mill that was built in 1839 and was the center of the former hamlet of Enfield Falls. There are great interpretive panels about the milling process and an informative video courtesy of the Friends of Robert H. Treman group. Also, don’t miss the Civilian Conservation Corps display on the 1st floor about the men that lived and worked in the park in the Depression Era.

Grab an Archaeology in the Park, A Walking Tour pamphlet (copies located in the Old Mill) and explore the former hamlet of Enfield Falls, including the former sites of the old Enfield Falls Hotel, the Budd house, the Wickham House, and more.

Most of Robert H. Treman State Park is Hemlock-northern hardwood forest, a mixed forest in which hemlock is codominant with other tree species including sugar and red maple, yellow and black birch, red oak, white pine, black cherry and basswood. This type of forest can be home to wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, and black-throated green warblers.

Don’t miss the view from the cliff staircase; in early summer look for the orange-yellow flowers of the Tulip Poplar trees, and in the fall enjoy the brilliant fall colors and the deep green pockets of hemlocks.

Sometimes there are ravens nesting on the gorge walls and you can see trout in the stream. In the summer, dragonflies flit over the surface of the stream.

A: No! Gray petaltail dragonflies are common in the park between May and July, but rare throughout New York State. These dragonflies are harmless and unwary of humans and they will sometimes land on hikers who become startled and squat them away in alarm. If a dragonfly lands on you, stay calm and enjoy the interaction with a rare and beautiful specimen of New York wildlife.

Q: What are all of these straight lines in the rocks? Did the park create the upper part of the gorge?

A: The straight lines in the gorge are cracks that geologists refer to as joint lines. Many of the joint lines were formed from natural gas that vented up and out of the rocks many millions of years ago. They overlap throughout the region at near right angles giving the rocks a “quarried” look.

Q: How old is the rock in the gorge?

A: It is about 380 million years old. The rocks in Enfield Glen (the Treman gorge) are shale and sandstone formed in the Late Devonian era. The alternating layers represent repeated shifts in sea level, and make for excellent fossil-hunting.

Q: Can we go swimming in the Enfield creek?

A: No! There is a designated swimming area located near the Lower Park Entrance. It is not safe to swim in other portions of the stream.

Q: Does anything live in the stream waters?

A: Yes, the water quality in most of the stream is excellent and contains fish and many invertebrates, including trout, dragonflies, mayflies, and caddisflies.

Interesting Facts about Robert H. Treman State Park:

The cliff staircase on the South Rim Trail has 222 beautiful stone steps.

The total elevation change one way (ascending and descending) of the gorge trail is 1035 feet.

The beautiful hemlock forest along the rim trail is being treated for a hemlock woolly adelgid infestation (HWA). HWA is an invasive insect native to Japan which was introduced to the US in the mid-1900s. This tiny insect is specific to the evergreen hemlock trees (Tsuga spp.). They attach to new branchlets and sucking out the hemlock’s starchy food source, which causes the hemlock tree to slowly weaken and die over the course of about 6 years. HWA has caused the death of millions of hemlocks along the Appalachians, and gray, ghostly forests are moving ever northward into New York.

Since 2012, Robert H. Treman State Park has been part of the DEC’s 5-year Deer Management Plan, a program focus on managing the overabundance of deer in the park and in the surrounding region.

The Friends of Robert H. Treman State Park is an organization dedicated to conducting educational programs, raising funds for the park, and supporting the park for the local community and the general public. To learn more, visit their site at http://tremanparkfriends.org/

The Finger Lakes Environmental Education Department offers scheduled gorge tours and educational programs at Buttermilk Falls, Robert H. Treman, Taughannock Falls and Watkins Glen State Parks. All park programs are free and open to the public, no registration required, although a parking fee may be charged.

If you have a group (10 or more) that is interested in scheduling its own gorge tour or educational program at one of the above parks or at another Finger Lakes State Park please contact the office at (607) 387-7041 x 131 or email Josh.Teeter@parks.ny.gov

The Finger Lakes Story Sparkling lakes, breathtaking waterfalls and rolling pastoral land dominate the landscape of the Finger Lakes Region. Over thousands of years, gigantic glaciers and coursing streams have carved this landscape. The most recent glacier moved through shallow river valleys leaving in its place deep, steep-sided troughs. When the glaciers receded north 10,000 years ago, water filled these new troughs, creating the 11 Finger Lakes. Since that time water has flowed down glacially steepened hillsides carrying debris that cut away at soft sedimentary rock to form our beautiful and unique gorges.

Gorge Tours provide information and insights about individual park history, ecology, gorge formation and geology. Tours last approximately one and one half hours.

The Robert H. Treman GorgeTour Unique among State Parks, you'll be touring a combination of an "old" and "new" gorge. The tour begins in the upper portion of the park and travels through the ¼-mile narrow rocky section, past 115-foot Lucifer Falls and into the wide and wooded lower gorge. The hike is moderately difficult with 3 staircases.

A valid New York State hunting license with the proper hunting stamps will serve as the regional hunting permit. Except where otherwise stated, this is the only permit necessary.

Hunters at Robert H. Treman must sign in each day at park office and upper contact station. If a deer is taken, hunters must call the Robert H. Treman park office to report sex of deer and approximate age of deer.

Safety zones and restricted areas are posted to ensure the safety of other park patrons and regional personnel. Signs will be posted at all parks during hunting season to notify patrons of this activity. Handguns will not be permitted in any of the parks. No trapping is allowed.